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Coinbase, the country’s largest digital-currency exchange, is warning investors to prepare for a “crypto winter,” said Nathan Becker in The Wall Street Journal. A two-year boom pushed the value of Bitcoin to over $67,000, and shares of Coinbase were trading for $250 or higher. But now “roughly $2 trillion of value has been erased across numerous cryptocurrencies since November,” and Bitcoin is down to about $21,000. Coinbase has shed close to 80 percent of its value since the start of the year, and the company said this week it needs to lay off nearly one-fifth of its staff, roughly 1,100 employees, to reduce costs.

Investing: Schwab to pay fine for misleading clients

Brokerage firm Charles Schwab will pay $187 million to settle charges that its robo-adviser misled clients, said Jacob Bogage in The Washington Post. Federal regulators said this week that Schwab “developed automated advisory products that recommended investors keep 6 percent to 29.4 percent of their holdings in cash, rather than invest them.” The SEC says Schwab knew the thrifty strategy didn’t benefit investors, who would have earned more “income if that money had been invested.” But it worked well for Schwab, which “used the cash to issue loans and collect interest on the funds.”

Sanctions: Seeking a deal on Ukrainian grain

The U.S. is quietly urging companies to step up purchases of Russian fertilizer, said Elizabeth Elkin in Bloomberg. Russia accounts for a fifth of world fertilizer exports; those shipments are exempt from sanctions, but “many shippers, banks, and insurers have been staying away from the trade.” The U.S., Europe, and the United Nations are engaged in delicate negotiations with Russia, which has suggested that support for Russian grain and fertilizer exports is a condition for Russia to “unblock” shipments of Ukrainian agricultural products.

China: U.S. may move to discourage investment

Lawmakers want to begin screening investments made by American companies in China, said Kate O’Keeffe in The Wall Street Journal. “Congress is pressing ahead with legislation” that “expands the federal government’s purview” over investment activities in countries that have been “defined as a foreign adversary,” including China. The bill, which picked up wide bipartisan backing this week, would establish a new panel to review and potentially restrict some investments “on national security grounds.”

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